


This person built by second chance

by Daughter_of_the_TARDIS



Series: The Space Wives Collection [19]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Happy Ending, Mentioned Bill Potts, Missy (Doctor Who) Deserved Better, Missy Being Missy, Reunions, Space Wives, The Vault (Doctor Who), best enemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23895712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS
Summary: “You know.  Her indoors.”  she dragged out the words, eyes lighting up as she teased the other Time Lord.  “The old ball and chain.  She must have been something special for you to give up the stars.” she mocked.  Missy stopped moving, bending slightly at the waist to get just that little bit closer to the Doctor.  She could see it in his face - if she pushed just a little bit harder, his eye would start twitching.  She nearly clapped with glee at the thought.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Series: The Space Wives Collection [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080728
Comments: 11
Kudos: 197





	This person built by second chance

The first time that Missy asked about his wife, the Doctor nearly choked. They had been in the middle of a screaming row about why she couldn't actually deep freeze Nardole, when she had suddenly switched tactics. Stopping her shouting for long enough to have her old friend looking at her warily, she smiled. Missy backed away a few steps, a glint in her eyes that had him on edge just on principle.

"Tell me about her, Doctor." She said, her voice sugary sweet. She walked around him - the poor dear had frozen in place the second that she changed her tune, like prey in front of a starving predator. If he didn’t move, she couldn’t see her - at least that was the theory that he was working under. "She must have been special for you to give up the universe for her." He could tell that she was baiting him, trying to get him to become emotional or give in to the ever-present urge to sock her one. He was determined to not give in, which meant he lasted about two minutes.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, trying to keep his cool. Shoving his hands in his pockets, trying to play up the ‘retired rocker’ look that he thought he had going on. Personally, she just thought he looked a wee bit homeless. Missy just shrugged in reply, the corner of her lips twitching upwards ever so slightly. This - needling at him - was the most fun that she had had in centuries.

“You know. Her indoors.” she dragged out the words, eyes lighting up as she teased the other Time Lord. “The old ball and chain. She must have been something special for you to give up the stars.” she mocked. Missy stopped moving, bending slightly at the waist to get just that little bit closer to the Doctor. She could see it in his face - if she pushed just a little bit harder, his eye would start twitching. She nearly clapped with glee at the thought.

"Don't talk about her." He muttered, turning away from her. "Not like that."

She stretched out her features, miming the most overwhelming shock that she could. “Oooh - hit a nerve, have I?” she asked, eyes wide. Putting her face back to normal, she shook her head. “Still, must be glad to get rid of her - you never were good at being grounded.” Then he reacted - for the first time, she saw a hint of what she remembered in him. Anger, warring with the pain on his face.

The eyebrows were in full force as he turned on her - trying to glare her into submission in a way that had never worked before and was guaranteed not to work in the future. “Shut up!” he growled, sounding even more Scottish than she was used to. Maybe she really had hit a nerve, she mused. How intriguing. “Don't you ever, ever, talk about her like that.”

"Touchy, touchy." Missy mocked, raising an eyebrow. She fluttered her lashes, looking up at him through them. "Things not going as well now that she's dead?"

He reeled back like she had murdered a puppy instead of stating a fact.

Missy watched him walk away, her mind racing. In all the centuries they had known each other, she had never seen him react like that. She had known his first wife on Gallifrey - had laughed as the Doctor went on and on about how he hated her. They had been a good match politically, but that was it. Missy had thought that this marriage was like that one. An alliance between her friend and the humans that he loved so much. Taking her out occasionally for appearance sake, treating her like another companion to take care of. That he had settled down on Darillium because she had forced him to, wanting to live a normal, boring human life like the rest of the apes.

She wasn’t even going to think about the rumors that she had heard that the woman was part-Time Lord. Disgusting - like some sort of designer mutt.

But maybe she was wrong. Maybe the tales that she had heard about the Doctor being domesticated had been true.

8888

The Doctor slumped against the vault door, exhausted. "Fifty years down," he muttered, running a hand over his face. "Nine hundred and fifty to go."

It had been almost ten years since the first time Missy had asked him about River, and she still brought her up every time. Whether it was a sneered insult about ‘the half-breed’, or a question about an adventure that they had in the past, she kept bringing up his wife. And it hurt. He had hoped that he could use this time to heal, to learn to be on his own again after having his bespoke psychopath at his side for twenty-four continuous years. One long night. 

Instead he was stuck with his best friend-slash-enemy reminding him every time that he went to visit exactly how much he missed his wife. Even the voice in the back of his head sounded like River - coming up with different quips for everything that the Time Lady said.

It was getting harder and harder by the day to remind himself why he was here. Missy wasn’t getting any better, and her constant reminders made it that much harder to run from his past. But he would keep going - he had a promise to keep.

8888  
Another thirty years went by, and to his surprise his old friend was starting to behave how he remembered - still mischievous, but with a hint of the hearts that he knew she had. They had been here for eighty years now, and it was strange to see how much Missy had changed. He was bringing her dinner for the night, so he made a quick TARDIS run to the turn of the millenium for Thai food from the best restaurant he could think of. Nardole followed behind him as he led the way to the vault, complaining the whole way - Missy had bitten him the last time he had come, and he had been scared ever since. Even Bill came along, determined to get to know more about the madwoman in the vault.

He knew what she was going to say before she even had a chance to open her mouth. Missy's question was written in the way her eyes lit up with malicious glee and the little smirk that crossed her face. 

“Did you get my present yet?” Missy asked again, cracking open one eye to look at the Doctor from where she had draped herself over the piano bench. She had been asking some variation of the same question for the last few decades, each time with a hopeful little grin on her face that made the Doctor hope for the future and ache for the past all at the same time. She didn’t like that part - despite everything, the Doctor was still her oldest friend, and she didn't like to see him hurt. But it was infuriating that her future self hadn't come through yet - honestly, what was she doing? She was supposed to be being cured of her murderous rages, that was the only thing that she could think of that would keep her from coming through on what she had promised herself to do.

“No.” the Doctor said, sounding exasperated. He got the same pinched look on his face that he had had when they were children and he was about to argue with whatever teacher was currently irritating him. She couldn't help the grin that formed at that thought - she had missed this more than she thought she had. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to make life easy for the old man. 

"Are you sure?" She asked, making her voice as high-pitched as a child's for added effect. 

"Yes." He said, eyebrows raised as he drew out the word. "But if you told me what it was I might have a better clue."

“Pity.” she blew a raspberry, swinging her legs underneath her as she sat up, petticoats fluttering out with every movement of her legs. “I had hoped that it would be here by now.”

“What is the present, anyway?” Nardole asked, looking up from the book he was reading. Bill wasn’t sure what it was - it was in an alien language, and he refused to have the TARDIS translate it for once. It was either something about knitting, or possibly a weird sex thing. “You still haven't said.”

“Well, I can't tell you, Eggsy.” Missy said, rolling her eyes at the man. “Then it wouldn't be a surprise.”

“Why does it have to be a surprise?” the Doctor asked, looking at her in confusion. Icy blue eyes narrowed at her, his question and impatience written in them. “Why can't you just tell me what it is?”

She grinned - it had always been far too much fun to wind him up. “Because, Doctor,” she said, rolling out the 'r’ in the word with a look on her face that said the answer should be perfectly obvious, “you wouldn't like it - or at least, you wouldn't like how I got it for you.”

The Doctor winced at that - he didn't even have to turn and look to know exactly what looks Bill and Nardole would be giving him. They didn't much like the idea of Missy in general - the woman scared them. Add into that a surprise that she admitted he wouldn’t like, and they were bound to hate it.

“Maybe it was a different face,” she mused, looking like the idea had just crossed her mind. She winced, hoping that that wasn’t what had happened. "They all look the same to me.”

8888

It was after their visit, heading back up to campus when Bill brought it up again. She had a paper due in two days, and while she had been meaning to pick the Doctor's brain about it, the question of Missy and her surprise kept popping into her head.

“Does anyone else get nervous whenever she mentions that present?” she asked, looking up at the Doctor in front of her and Nardole following along behind. Once they reached the top of the staircase she moved in front of them both, turning and walking backwards while talking with them. “Like she could be talking about a pony… or an anti-aircraft missile.”

Nardole nodded - he had said the same thing to the Doctor many times over. “It's a bit worrying when you think about it.” He admitted. It was nerve-wracking in a way - any second the mad Time Lady’s surprise could come and destroy them all. 

But the Doctor shook his head - his faith in his old friend was unshakeable for reasons that both Bill and Nardole couldn’t understand. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Nardole didn’t seem convinced - nor did Bill, for that matter - but he let it slide. “If you say so.” he muttered.

“Chips, then?” the Doctor asked, looking hopeful. It had been ages since he had eaten last, and his stomach was growling. He turned to face his friends, walking backwards up the stairs.

Bill snorted, shaking her head. “Your blood pressure is gonna kill you one of these days.” but she turned in the direction of the nearest chippie, listening intently as the Doctor began his defense as to why his blood pressure levels were perfectly acceptable.

8888

Years had passed since the last time that they had had that conversation, and yet there was still a tiny part of the Doctor's mind that wondered what Missy's present had been. It could have been anything - from a pretty stone to a new strain of plague. Towards the end of their time together it kept leaning more and more towards just being a pretty stone. It had been nice to know that her oldest friend had become her friend again - she knew that in the end, Missy had been on her side.

She had lost everything since then - lost Missy, lost Nardole… lost Bill. She had regenerated, become a completely different person than she had been before. Gone on new adventures and met new friends.

Of course, now that she had new friends to distract her, those thoughts were few and far between. But every once in a while they would come back - just another of the million thoughts racing through the Time Lord's head.

But sometimes, she still wondered what her present was.

8888

Yasmin Khan was the first one into the TARDIS after their latest adventure, but she stopped short when she saw someone in the console room, waiting for them. She was draped across the console, her icy blue eyes unfocused as she sung a wordless melody. Dark curly hair was piled on top of her head in an elaborate fashion, and her plum skirts and petticoats elegantly arranged around her. She looked like a Victorian nanny, and Yaz would know - she had been forced to play the part of one only a week earlier when they had been trying to stop an invasion in 1890s’ London.

The TARDIS hummed, and the woman snapped to attention, her eyes pinning Yaz down like a bug on a display board. Her head turned, eyes tracking Yaz’s every movement. 

“Why hello there, poppet.” the woman purred, fluttering her eyelashes as she sat up, slow and deadly as a panther. “Is the Doctor in?”

“Who are you?” Yas asked, a wary look in her eye. She hadn’t been around the woman for longer than two minutes, and she already knew that she was nothing but trouble. Not even because she was looking for the Doctor - although that was a concern all on its own. But the way she moved, the way she stared her down, it worried her. She had seen it before to a lesser degree in criminals that she had brought in during her work with the police. 

“Why, I’m Missy.” she said, her eyes moving to study Graham and Ryan in turn as they came into the TARDIS behind her. She dismissed both of them as soon as they came in, marking them as unimportant. A small smile unfurled on her face, eyes dancing as she turned around, running a hand over the console controls and seemingly ignoring them all. “Now then, where’s the Doctor? I’ve got a present for him. And please don’t be stupid and try to convince me that any of you are him - I’m not an ape, I won’t fall for your tricks.”

“What’s goin’ on?” the Doctor asked, pushing past her friends. “Why are you all frozen like - Missy.” she froze as well, a bit of blonde hair falling in her face as she saw her old friend. The other woman spun around, her face lighting up as she saw the other Time Lady.

“Hello, Doctor.” the woman trilled the words, looking something close to awed at the sight of the woman in front of her. She moved away from the console, quickly fixing her skirts before walking over to the blonde, stopping a few feet in front of her. “You've upgraded.” she noted.

The Doctor was frozen in place. “How are you here?” she asked, her voice wavering slightly as she stared at the face of her oldest friend. “You’re dead, Missy.”

The strange woman scoffed, rolling her eyes, and Ryan couldn’t help his grin at her dramatics. She was so over the top, it was amazing - it would have been hysterical, if not for the edge of danger to her every movement. She was like a panther - lithe and graceful, but could kill you in a heartbeat if she tried. “Honestly, dear, how many times?” she shook her head, tutting. “Death is for other people.”

The Doctor took a few steps forward, still not really believing what she saw in front of her. “What are you doing here, Missy?”

“Just a hypothetical, dear.” she said, head tilted to the side as she watched her friend. “What would you say if I brought you a present?”

“Are you still goin’ on about that?” the blonde huffed, looking exasperated. “It’s been centuries.” Behind her, Ryan mouthed the word ‘centuries’ at Yaz, who just shrugged. It wasn’t even close to the strangest thing that they had heard in all of their time with the Doctor.

"Well, you never answered the question.". The other woman rationalized, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, and you call me rude.”

"I don't know, Missy." The Doctor sighed. “I think I’d probably have to know what it was - just to make sure that it wasn’t another army of the dead or somethin’.”

“Well that wasn’t very nice.” the Mistress muttered, then rolled her eyes. “Come on out then.” she called.

“Has anyone ever told you how bossy you are?” a voice responded, coming from deep inside the timeship. Missy smirked, and it only grew when she saw the look on her friend’s face. She looked stricken, like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Tears gathered in her eyes, and for a moment Missy was afraid that she had done something wrong. 

A woman came out of the corridor - a lion’s mane of blonde curls bouncing loosely around her head, and loose cream robes. “River.” the Doctor breathed, a disbelieving smile spreading across her face. She turned and looked at her friends, her fear written clearly on her face. Whatever she was about to ask them, it was important. “Can… can you see her too?”

While they weren’t quite sure of exactly what was happening, they did know the answer to her question. They all nodded, too curious to say a word.

"Oh, don't do that, it's embarrassing." Missy said, rolling her eyes when she saw what the Doctor was up to. She huffed, arms flapping at her sides. "You're a Time Lord - have some dignity."

"Shut up, Missy." The Doctor responded almost instinctively as she turned back around, not wanting to take her eyes off of the blonde in front of her. Her human friends watched in confusion, while her Gallifreyan one just looked smug. 

"Hello Sweetie." The woman in the doorway said, and the Doctor nearly collapsed, her eyes lighting up almost instantly. She did a strange movement across the room - half running, half lurching, like she was afraid that what she was running to wasn't really there. But the second the other woman's arms closed around her, the Doctor went limp in her arms, clinging on like her life depended on it. 

River held her tightly, running a hand through her hair and down her back. She pressed a kiss to her spouse’s forehead, feeling the slightly smaller woman shudder against her. The Doctor was crying, trying her best to keep her sounds as quiet as possible. “Shhh… it's alright, my love.” she soothed. Her voice was low and soft, trying to keep the others from hearing. She wouldn’t mind now, but the second that she was back to her own senses, she would hate that her friends had seen her moment of weakness. She would try her best to keep that from happening.

“How?” the Doctor asked, looking up at her. Her eyes kept running over her, continuously checking to make sure that she was really there. It would have been sweet if it wasn’t so nauseating.

She could feel the Doctor’s irritation from the other side of the room. “Oi! It’s been a few centuries without my wife, I’m allowed to be a bit of a sap, thank you.” the tiny blonde shot back, not taking her eyes off of her wife for a second. 

River smiled, tucking a lock of hair back behind her wife’s ear as she looked across the console room and meeting Missy’s eye. “Your friends are quite crafty, my love.”

The Doctor turned, smiling at her friend - her gratitude was obvious in her eyes. She didn’t say anything, at least not out loud. But Missy still received the message, and she nodded. She hopped up to sit on top of the console, swinging her legs as she turned to face the Doctor’s new friends. She looked at Ryan, and sighed. “Well, at least you’re prettier than the Egg.” 

“Who was that?” Ryan asked, looking confused. “What just happened?” All of their attention was on her, and Missy smiled - that was how she preferred things, with her at the center. It made her life that much more fun. Of course, it also made it easier for her oldest friend to sneak away for a tender reunion with her wife, but that was neither here nor there.

"I told her she would like my present.". Missy grinned - or at least something involving teeth that was close enough to a smile to be counted as one.


End file.
